


Stage Direction

by uforock



Category: Darkwing Duck (Cartoon 1991), DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Character Study, Gen, M/M, OSDD headcanons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-04
Updated: 2019-11-04
Packaged: 2021-01-22 18:44:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21306794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/uforock/pseuds/uforock
Summary: Drake was only sort of... abstractly aware of when he first started “acting” as Darkwing Duck. He could remember it in the sense that he knew the events that took place, but it was like recalling a story someone else told him, or remembering the panels of a comic book.
Relationships: Drake Mallard/Launchpad McQuack
Comments: 4
Kudos: 58





	Stage Direction

**Author's Note:**

> me? projecting my mental illness onto my comfort characters? its more likely than you think!!

Drake was only sort of abstractly aware of when he first started “acting” as Darkwing Duck. He could remember it in the sense that he knew the events that took place, but it was like recalling a story someone else told him, or remembering the panels of a comic book.

He was backed into a corner, lunchbox ripped out of his hands, and all at once being shoved  _ hard _ into his face with a horrible cracking sound. 

It had all been play-acting before, a way to cope with everything that was happening. The bullying was one thing, and he could handle that on his own. The way his  _ teachers _ treated him was another thing, and the way his  _ parents _ treated him… all of it at once?

Drake was just a kid; he couldn’t handle that kind of pressure.

It was no wonder Darkwing Duck had to step in.

Later in life he would cite that fight as the deciding moment when he became a Hero, but in reality, there was no  _ deciding _ being done. It was life or death, plain and simple. At least, that’s how it felt at the time. Like if he didn’t break his nature and throw a punch, he wouldn’t survive. 

It was like watching himself from afar, but also… not? Drake couldn’t fend off the whole group of them. Drake didn’t have that confident glint in his eye, that smug assurance that everything was going to be okay.

_ Darkwing's got it under control, _ came a thought, and he knew it was true.

He got into big trouble for fighting at school, and for sneaking his Darkwing Duck stuff into class again, but he didn’t care. The entire week passed by in a murky haze for him, distant and strange and happening both too slowly and too quickly all at once. 

He felt himself slip back into being Darkwing sometimes. 

When the teacher called his name, when he was doing sports in P.E., when his dad would yell at him. It was like a shield, because he knew that even if he couldn’t handle the problem, Darkwing could. 

-

As Drake grew up, he found that he fell into other roles as well. Darkwing was the easiest to fall into, and he often found himself stepping back and letting that part of himself handle things when he couldn’t. 

Darkwing wasn’t organized, though. Darkwing was all defense and  _ action _ and bravado, Darkwing couldn’t do english homework or cook or clean. 

Drake Mallard could, though, and the last name was important. Drake Mallard was the part of him that said  _ yes ma’am _ and  _ yes sir _ and followed orders and cooked dinner when his mother forgot and kept everything neat and tidy and in order even when it was all starting to fall apart.

Drake Mallard happily held his life together. Darkwing kept the world from tearing it all apart. Drake sometimes felt like he was just along for the ride. 

_ “You could do this for real.” _

The idea baffled him at first. Things had gone so terribly- he had no idea what he was  _ doing _ . That was all Darkwing, he hardly had any control over it, and his body ached so much, he absolutely had at the very least cracked a rib during the whole thing.

But… Drake had spent his entire life letting Darkwing protect him. Darkwing kept him safe as a kid, kept him safe well into adulthood, and today Darkwing had kept an entire  _ building  _ full of people safe. Darkwing was brave in the face of danger. Darkwing was a pillar of hope for him, maybe he could be that for other people too!

_ And I  _ am  _ better than Gizmoduck,  _ the voice in the back of his head that he easily pinned as Darkwing merrily supplied. That sliding glass wall fell over his mind, and Darkwing put the hat back on with a grin, looking up at Launchpad.

“Hey, I’d be more than happy to make this hero thing a full time gig,” he said with a sweeping motion of his arms, hands falling to rest on his hips. 

“You’ve already got one fan,” Launchpad smiled, unfurling a poster and handing him a pen. 

Darkwing faltered for a moment, slipping from Drake’s grasp as he held the pen, the world coming back into focus just a little too fast. He signed the poster, all too aware of the warmth of Launchpad’s expression and the rush of glee he got at the idea that this was really truly happening. 

He signed the poster in his own name.

“ _ Drake Mallard _ ,” Launchpad read aloud.

“Please,” he put a hand on Launchpad’s shoulder, smiling with a touch of nervousness behind it. “Call me Drake.”

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> talk to me about osdd/DID darkwing duck i think its a good concept


End file.
